Transport case of an expanded artificial material



K. NESSE.

June 3, 1969 TRANSPORT CASEIO-F A-NEXPA-NDLEDARTIFICIAL MATERIALFiled'April 12, 1967.

She'ei INVENTOR Kare Nessa BY a TORNEYS June 3, 1969 K. NESSE 3,447,716TRANSPORT CASE OF AN EXPANDED ARTIFICIAL MATERIAL Filed April 12. 1967Sheet 3 INVENTOR Kare Nesse BY 5 %TTORNEY1S United States Patent3,447,716 TRANSPORT CASE OF AN EXPANDED ARTIFICIAL MATERIAL Kare Nesse,Nessane, Norway, assignor to Nessplast-Kare E. Nesse, Nessane, NorwayFiled Apr. 12, 1967, Ser. No. 630,443 Claims priority, applicationNorway, Apr. 13, 1966, 162,565; May 4, 1966, 162,871 Int. Cl. B65d 21/00U.S. Cl. 220-97 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Disposable transportcase constructed of light expanded plastic material comprises bottomwall and upwardly extending side wall integrally connected at its lowerportion to bottom wall. Grooves are provided in exterior surface ofbottom wall and tongues extending upwardly from uppermost portion ofside wall are arranged for mating engagement with grooves in bottom wallof similar case when series of such cases are stacked one above theother. Transport case has drainage system for draining single case orvertical stack of cases.

In order to avoid these disadvantages, it has been suggested to producetransport cases of the type in question of an expanded artificialmaterial so as to achieve a transport case of substantially lesserweight, which again means a much more economic transport. Such transportcases of expanded plastic, however, must be produced withdisproportionally thick walls, lest the walls should yield and buckle orbe distorted otherwise, when such cases are stacked upon each otherduring their transport by car, ship or railway. On these occasions thestacked cases will also be subject to vibration and rolling forces.

The object of the present invention is to achieve a transport case of anexpanded artificial material, preferably expanded polystyrene, whichcase in spite of the structure of its material may be manufactured withsubstantially thinner walls than has been possible until now. Suchexpanded plastic cases are designed to be used only once and to bethrown away after usage. It is thus of the greatest importance to renderpossible a production of such cases with a minimum of material consumed,that is, at the lowest possible production cost.

The improved transport case according to the present invention ischaracterized in that the top of its side edges and the underside of itsbottom are provided with cooperating parts, e.g. in the shape ofprojections and recesses, which parts engage when several cases arestacked on top of each other, in order to secure the side walls againstdistortion.

In a preferred embodiment the said cooperating parts constitute tonguesand grooves, and according to another feature of the invention these arepreferably dimensioned in such a way that the width of the tongue issomewhat larger than that of the groove. Due to the elasticity of thematerial an engagement between tongue and groove is Patented June 3,1969 thus achieved which secures the cases relative to each other andproduces practically complete air tightness, which may at times be ofthe greatest importance to the transported articles, e.g. fish.

According to another feature of the invention the bottom of thetransport case is so constructed that it is rendered possible to stackthe cases in a suitable formation.

The invention also relates to a suitable drainage of the cases inquestion. For this purpose the side walls of the cases are provided withdrain channels to drain olf moisture from the bottom of the case as wellas from a similar case stacked on top of it.

When the cases are constructed for stacking in formations, drainchannels are provided both in the corners of the case for cooperationwhen the cases are stacked straight upon each other, and at one orseveral locations in the side walls of the case in order to providedrains for upper cases stacked in a formation.

The above mentioned as well as further features characterizing theinvention will appear more clearly from the following description ofsome embodiments shown in the drawing.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective top plan view of a transport case accordingto the invention.

FIG. 2 shows the case according to FIG. 1, seen from beneath.

FIG. 3 shows a section along the line IIIIII in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows a modified transport case according to the invention in aview like FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 shows the case of FIG. 4 seen from beneath.

The case according to the shown examples is a parallelepipedic body ofexpanded polystyrene having upright side walls 2, and end walls 2, aswell as a bottom 3. The side and end walls are preferably slightlyoblique, that is, converging slightly upwards.

In the shown embodiment the top of the side and end walls is parallelwith the case bottom but is provided with a bead or tongue 4 projectingupwards. This tongue runs along the entire periphery of the case, aswill appear from FIG. 1.

The bottom of the case is provided with a corresponding recess or groove5. When a case is stacked on top of a corresponding case the tongue andgroove will thus engage. In this way the side and end walls of thesubjacent case will be effectively interlocked with the bottom of theupper case and will thus receive the desired support preventing thewalls 2, 2 from buckling or being distorted due to the pressure orstress from the articles kept in the case.

In a preferred embodiment the bottom of the case, as shown in FIG. 2, isnot only provided with a circumferencial groove 5'. Additionally it hasintermediate grooves 5, 5". These intermediate grooves 5, 5" arearranged so as to make it possible to stack the cases in question in asuitable formation, as will be understood from the drawing. The casesthen either may be stacked with corners engaging, half sides, or halfends engaging or two thirds or one third respectively engaging,depending on the desired formation of the stacks.

It will be understood that embodiments of the cooperating parts of thecase top edges and bottoms varying from the shown and described ones maybe arranged within the scope of this invention. The tongue and groovemeans may thus be replaced by a suitable profiling of the case top edgesand a corresponding arrangement of the bottom surfaces. The cooperatingparts need not run continuously along the top edge or bottom surfacesrespectively. A construction of the tongue-groove type, however, hasproved to be the most suitable one in actual usage, the engagementachieved by this arrangement, as mentioned above, securing an elfectiveinterlocking of the cases as well as a high degree of air tightness.

In additional to the said cases plane covers (not shown) mayadvantageously be manufactured to cover and stitfen the uppermost casesof a stack or a formation. The lower surfaces of these covers areprovided with means corresponding to the subjacent case edges.

In order to achieve a drainage of said cases vertical drain channels 6are provided in the side walls. The drain channels 6 run from the topedge of the case to its bottom 3. There are also provided channels 7running from the bottom to the vertical channel 6. Cases stackedstraight on top of each other thus have continuous, vertical drainchannels in the corners with communicating drain channels 7 running fromthe case bottoms to the channels 6. If the cases are to be stacked informations, that is, if they are constructed as indicated in FIG. 5,they may additionally be provided with vertical channels 6, 6" suitablylocated in the side walls in accordance with the desired kind of stackformation. The drain channels may if desired be provided as outsidegrooves in the case walls.

I claim:

1. A disposable transport case for fish and the like constructed oflight expanded plastic material comprising a bottom wall and an upwardlyextending side wall integrally connected at its lowermost portion to thebottom wall, an arrangement of grooves in the exterior surface of thebottom wall, tongues extending upwardly from the uppermost portion ofthe side wall constructed and arranged for mating engagement with thegrooves in the bottom wall of a similar case when a series of such casesare stacked one above the other, the tongues having a width slightlylarger than the width of the grooves whereby a force fit is providedbetween the tongues on one case and the grooves in an adjacent case whenthe cases are stacked one above the other, and a drainage systemcomprising at least one open-ended drain channel in the side wallextending between the uppermost and lowermost portions of the side wall,and a branch line in the side wall adjacent the lowermost portionthereof connecting the interior of the case to the open-ended drainchannel whereby liquid in the case flows through the branch line intothe drain channel and out the lower open end of the channel.

2. A disposable transport case as in claim 1 wherein the drain channelis vertically disposed so that similar drain channels in a stack ofsimilar cases are in vertical alignment with one another whereby liquidfrom the interior of each case in the stack flows into the branch linesand drain channels and out of the lower open end of the drain channel inthe lowermost case of the stack.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,103,27 8 9/1963 Kuzma.3,146,929 8/ 1964 Keirn. 3,191,791 7/ 1965 Jackson.

7 FOREIGN PATENTS 103,425 12/ 1963 Norway. 1,349,646 12/ 1963 France.

GEORGE E. LOWRANCE, Primary Examiner.

